Kyoshi's Angels
by Typewriterman
Summary: ...We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since... Suki, you're too modest for your own good...
1. Chapter 1

So, I was sitting around doing my homework when this little idea plopped into my head as I tried to graph the derivative of an equation...It's safe to say what I decided to do with it.

I'm going to take a break for a bit, seeing as how my love for writing is really making a mess of something ironic: my English grades...hope you like it, and remember to check out my other fics (and my fave author's fics) as well...they need love too!

I actually own the names of the other Kiyoshi warriors...I know, it'll make sense once you start reading...when have I ever steered you wrong?

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It was busy on the island today. There was so much activity, that even the town of Chin would be able to see the streams of people move about in preparation. Streamers were being strung up, the ports opened early to clear up traffic later in the night, and everyone was wearing their best. No, Kyoshi Island wasn't expecting any important visitors, quite the contrary.

"Don't worry Oyaji, there's no way that the Fire Nation could reach the island." Suki told her elder. "Not with the Avatar out there anyway…"

"No Suki, what I'm worried about is y-"

"Worried about what?" The brunette interrupted the man, "about us? Me?" The older man stood in silence, ashamed the he doubted the young girl and the other Kyoshi warriors' skills. Suki returned to her packing with a smile on her face. "You don't have to be so quiet about it Oyaji…you've always worried about us, and I'd be surprised if you stopped today. Ever since I found out that the Avatar's returned, I just couldn't stand by and continue to be 'neutral', especially since that the Fire Nation showed us that it will attack us no matter what."

"It sounds to me that this is far from a foolhardy decision; that you've thought about this a great deal." Oyaji handed the young girl a round Earth Kingdom shield.

"Thanks."

Later that evening, festivals were held in the honor of the Kyoshi warriors' departure. Everyone danced, ate, laughed, and for the main even, the younger girls gave a performance in front of the Avatar Kyoshi statue. The young girls, dressed similarly to the warriors' uniform, displayed a ceremonial dance, the exact one that the distinguished Kyoshi warriors had to learn and show at their age. Of course, a little practice wouldn't have hurt. The festival ended with the Kyoshi girls boarding their ferry to head to the mainland illuminated by fireworks and cheery 'goodbyes'. Every inch of the wooden dock was covered by the islanders who wished off the girls. As part of tradition, Suki and the other warriors cast off flower petals into the water, to try to lay a trail for them to follow back after they have completed their duty. It was once said that a warrior, who departed for a local dispute at the mainland, cast off a bouquet of flowers to his young fiancé from his ferry.

This story was made into a tradition, and as such, Suki cast off a bouquet into the waiting crowds. The bouquet landed in the hands of one unsuspecting young man, who stared at the group of bright flowers with bright eyes. He jumped for joy and held his hands up in the air to present the bouquet even though everyone's attention was paid to the ferry. The young man started to moan and mumble in excitement, foaming at the mouth before falling off the dock and into the water, washing up shore just before the ferry was out of sight.

On the ferry, the girls exhaled a sigh of relief that after hours of ceremonies and discipline, they could relax. Some of them went to sleep, others busied themselves from their excitement, but three girls in particular leaned on the rear banister of the wooden ferry. "So, what do you think?" The girl on the outside said, breaking the silence.

"What do you think', what?" The girl on the other side of the three asked. The first girl glared a 'not you!' at her friend and stared at the middle girl. The middle girl looked into the distance towards the island's direction, unaware of her friend's question.

"Suki…" the middle girl reacted at the sound of her name, "So?"

"So' what?" Suki responded to the monosyllabic question.

"You think that you'll see him again?" Two blank stares were the only response to the girl's question. "C'mon Suki, don't do this to me…"

"Kikyo, I have no idea who you're talking about." Suki told the girl on her left.

"You've only really talked to like, a total of three boys!"

The other girl realized who the person in question was. "Oh!" Suki glanced towards the girl on her right, and finally processed a name.

Darting her head from right to left, an embarrassed Suki gave Kikyo a slight punch, earning a pair of girlish giggles. "I think that if we do, that it's destiny!" The girl on the right sighed out passionately.

"_I don't think that we're talking about the same person anymore…_" Kikyo whispered to her leader. "_Watch this…_Hey Sai, don't you think that arrow of his is cute?"

"Oh definitely, and the cool grey of his eyes and that laugh…" The girl on the right stopped mid-sentence when she realized what she was confessing. Looking back to the two girls, Sai began to blush, and her eyes squinted in disbelief. "What?" she exclaimed defensively, "you have a crush on him too!" It was Kikyo's turn to blush now and after a short period of awkward silence, all three girls giggled at what had happened.

"As I was saying, do you think that we'll see that water tribe boy again?"

"Sokka…" Suki interjected, "His name's Sokka" she slowly brought her hand up to her lips, remembering the peck on the cheek that she gave him when the Fire Nation attacked.

"See…told you." Kikyo said matter-of-factly to the young Sai. "You still haven't answered my question you know…" No longer worried about her beet red face, Suki left the two leaning on the banister without an answer to get some sleep. "Hey! Come back here!"

The sun had just begun to rise over the deck of the wooden ferry, and the group of warriors practiced their morning exercises—the same exercises that the little girls of Kyoshi Island had presented the night before. A fast patter on the wood called the attention of the girls to see one of their own stumbling in her pajamas with a closed fan in one hand and another held in her mouth. "Hey Akemi…nice to see you living up to your name!" Kikyo joked followed by giggles from the other girls.

"Kikyo…" Suki said strongly and turned her attention back to the late arrival. "Akemi, you know just as much as I do that we start our exercises at daybreak."

"Oh, I know Suki, I'm sorry and…"

"Don't worry about it, but you'll just have to do the exercises by yourself. Alright girls, we'll be arriving at port soon, so that's it for today." Suki and the four other girls made their way back to the cabin to get ready to disembark, leaving the disheveled girl to practice on her own. Unfazed, Akemi simply started alone as she was ordered.

"Akemi?" Sai called from behind her, "I'll do the exercises with you…" Smiling in gratitude, both girls went through the morning exercises together. A few feet behind them, Suki leaned against the open doorway of the cabin and smiled towards the girls.

"Thank you very much!" the girls, clad in their blue islander's garb waved to the ferry master after disembarking. They carried their uniforms and weapons bags until they found a stable to buy ostrich-horses.

"Alright, where to now Suki?" One of the girls asked their leader. They were atop six large ostrich-birds and headed out towards the town's exit, not knowing where to start.

"First thing that we need is to get some more supplies. It wouldn't make any sense to ride around in uniform if we couldn't clean them later." Suki said

"Well, we could always use the Army's discount if did wear them." Sai tried to suggest.

"Whether we wear them or not, the shops here are focused around fishing, not fighting." Kikyo informed the group.

"There are only two towns that we could go to with the supplies that we have." A long haired girl spoke out while reading a map, "the town of Peking, which is a day and a half away from here…or the town of Chin."

"How far is Chin from here?" Akemi mindlessly asked, receiving a nudge from Kikyo.

"Yeah Sumei…how far is _Peking_ from here?" Kikyo emphasized the town's name.

"Alright then," Suki said, "we'll have to make a stop, but we'll go to Peking for supplies and find out where to go next from there. Sumei, you'll navigate for us. Myn and Sai," Suki began to order, "You two will take the first watch, followed by Akemi and Sumei, then Kikyo and me."

Kikyo grumbled against her leader's subtle way of punishing her, but kept silent considering that she probably deserved it. The trip was uneventful, followed by an uneventful night, which led to another uneventful morning. That day, they had made it to Peking, restocked on all the supplies that they needed, and left by sunset. Before leaving, the girls paid their respects to the spirit of the forest at its shrine; a group of bear statues that sat in the middle of the thick forest.

Feeling at ease near the shrine, they decided to stay just outside of the statues. The sun again rose above the thick green of Hei Bei's forest, and shone above an encampment temporarily left alone. The whole group was going through their morning activities until they heard the soft dulcet sounds of a stringed instrument. It was only seconds later that they were able to hear a tambourine's banging and a man singing, _"Oh, don't let the cave-in get you down…"_

"Who's that?" Sai said, pointing in the direction of a group of people moving towards them.

"_Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown…." _

"It could be a traveling circus…" Myn tried to hypothesize, intrigued as well. The six girls began to watch with interest the colorfully dressed singers that were now only a few feet away from their practice area and the shrine.

"_When the tunnels are darkest that's when you need a clown, hey! Don't let the cave in get you down, _Sokka!_"_

"Huh?" Suki blinked when she heard the grungy man mention that name. "Hey wait! What was that that you just said?" She called out to the group, effectively catching their attention.

"What'd I say?" the man tried to recount the verse to himself. He looked towards the girls and an idea struck him. "Oh, hey, yeah…sorry about that!"

"Wait, what are you sorry about?" Sumei asked confused.

"I didn't mean anything by that, I mean, I like clowns as much as everyone else does!" The man calmly said to the girls in a leisurely tone.

"Clowns _are _nice…" a woman joined in with the same tone as the man.

"What!?" Kikyo shrieked at how ludicrously peaceful the unshaven man insulted them.

"Oh yeah. I'll definitely not say that anymore, clown lady. I don't try to be insulting to anybody. I'd rather be nice…like clowns are!" the man pointed towards the group, mainly towards a now fuming Kikyo.

"Clowns _are _nice"

"We're….Not...Clowns!" The Kyoshi warrior's face was red from frustration towards the calm man in the silly hat.

"You're not? Man, I'm not good at guessing things…"

It took a couple of minutes, a few fellow Kyoshi girls and some explanations before everything was settled with. The colorfully dressed group explained themselves to be nomads…twice…and the green and makeup covered girls explained that they were warriors from Kyoshi Island…not clowns.

"So how do you know Sokka?" Suki tried to hide her excitement while Sumei and Myn held Kikyo away from the Chong and Lily.

"Sokka? He's cool." Chong quickly answered the wrong question

"He seemed pretty nervous. Maybe he was afraid of the dark?" Lily continued on. Suki stared at the two nomads and smacked her hand onto her forehead out of frustration.

"Hey, you got that down pretty well! Do you know Sokka?" The girls sat astonished at what Chong said, "Him, Katara and the little arrow guy wanted to visit Omashu." The girls murmured when he said this, fully aware that Omashu had been taken over by the Fire Nation. "Oh wait…wasn't it taken over by the Fire Nation? I forgot to _tell_ him that…"

"You mean you led Aang straight to a Fire Nation city?!" Sai jumped to her feet, terrified for the young airbender. Kikyo just grumbled some more.

"I guess…but don't worry; I heard that the Avatar managed to free a whole bunch of people from that place, so the Ga-Aang should be fine. Hey, I just made that up!" Chong happily finished the rest of his message.

"Nice!" Moku cheered

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" Kikyo managed to break from her human restraints and jumped in front of Chong.

"Well, you guys didn't ask…" Again, Suki stared at the nomad, only this time was joined by the rest of the Kiyoshi warriors in smacking their heads.

"You guys are _really_ good at that…"

It wasn't for another day that the girls decided where to go next. They figured that they should try to find the Omashu refugees, thinking that they would be of more help with where the Avatar could be…much, _much_ more helpful. Both groups said their goodbyes in the morning; the Kyoshi girls felt that skipping their exercises for one day wouldn't really hurt, and left as soon as they could in search of the refugees.

On their way, the warriors passed through a town that was reportedly attacked by a firebender not too long ago, but no information on Aang's whereabouts. "Well, could you tell us the direction that he went?" Myn asked an old man, who only shook his head with anger on his face.

"Nope, don't know and don't care."

"Uh, thank you very much…" Myn bowed reverently to the old man and returned to the rest of the group. She shook her head to the others in indication of what happened, and they soon set off on their way again. After days of more traveling, the girls had encamped themselves on a soft mossy hill overlooking the sun that set just beyond the Earth Kingdom plains. They had to circumvent the desert and were glad that they had successfully made it to the other side. The girls had busied themselves with cleaning their uniforms and weapons, setting up camp or practicing movements when Sumei ran into camp.

"Suki, you better come see this!" The rest of the girls followed their leader and Sumei to a high cliff where they stopped. "I was trying to get our bearings as to where we were from the stars when I saw some torches in the distance." The long haired brunette pointed towards the sandy border to a large group of people marching down below. The girls looked with amazement at the sea of people that traveled out of the Si Wong desert

"Found them." Kikyo announced.

* * *

As I already said, I need to get a handle on school again... Don't worry, my contest is still on, and all the rules still apply; 

1) First (signed) reviewer gets the chance to come up with the topic of a future story. (It'll just take a lot longer to produce)

2) If you reviewed the previous story, you're gonna have to wait till the next one. sorry!

3) More detailed instructions will be given to the (In-fic) winner, so don't worry about the vagueness.

In an attempt to be teasy, I'll let you in on some projects that I'm working on:

1)A longerbee ToBSS oneshot...

2)My Economics project...what? I am!

3) A longerbee future-shot

4)change to kataang

5)change to tokka

6)change to soki (?)

7)y'know what? 3-6 are all in one story!! (and more)

5)English Essay...crap! It's due in three hours!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Just a little proof of life... (I'M NOT DEAD!!)

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"Suki! Suki, can you hear me?!" 

_Everything's spinning around me…what happened? My eyes are so heavy…Sai? Is that you? There are so…so…many of you…_

"Oh no...Sumei! I need help; I think Suki might have a concussion!" The wide eyed warrior called out for assistance amidst the confusion and sound of crumbling of rock. Despite the loud ringing in her ears, Suki tried her best to regain her composure and attempted to sit up to the dismay of the panicking brunette who sat over her. Feeling her head forced back down onto her friend's lap, the injured Kyoshi leader settled for looking around using peripheral vision. Last she remembered, she was standing on a cliff looking down to the desert border, and now she was surrounded by clouds of smoke and dust.

_The sun's set already…how long have I been out?_

With the exception of the current caregiver who placed a wet compress on her forehead, Suki saw that the Kyoshi girls had set up a perimeter around her.

_Why are they in that formation? Who's injured?_

Suki noticed a cold feeling running down her left ear lobe, irritating her enough to wipe it off She figured that it was from the wet compress. "Aah!" she panicked, terrified from the red tint that covered the tip of her index finger.

"Whoa, settle down Suki! Settle down!" Sai tried to calm her leader down. "Girls, I need some help!"

"Pin her down!" Sumei commanded to the hesitating warriors. They eventually submitted to their superior and each pinned down their leader's arm; Myn took the left, Akemi took the right. Sumei dropped down to hold Suki's legs and tried to grab the panicking girl's attention. "Suki! It's alright!" She told her leader calmly, ignoring the long loose strands of hair that fell onto her face. "You're not bleeding! It's just wet dirt." To prove her claim, Sumei grabbed some of the dirt and spat into her dusty hand, showing the same rusty tint on her palm as on Suki's finger. Suki's breathing instantly slowed down and she calmly settled her head back onto Sai's lap. She couldn't help but to start laughing, but was soon coughing because of the sharp pain in her sides.

"Alright, now that we know that the fearless leader is ok; can we try to help the refugees?" Kikyo groaned towards her compatriots who were relieved by Suki's relief.

_The refugees!_

Groaning, Suki managed to sit right up against her friends pleading. "Kikyo…" her voice was raspy and dry front dust inhalation, "I want you to check up on the refugees right away!" Kikyo's stoic look changed to an excited smile and she instantly jumped onto the nearest Ostrich-horse, speeding off through the cloudy scene. Suki coughed again and rubbed her sore head for good measure. _My back and sides hurt, there's dust everywhere, and sand in my pants…I'm guessing that we fell_… "Sai, Myn, I want you to check on camp…Akemi; I want you to help Kikyo. And Sumei, I think it'd make sense if I had you hang around here for a while, just in case…" The clouds were now beginning to clear up and the three other girls made their way to complete their orders by foot.

Coughing again, Suki limped along under Sumei's supervision to investigate how in the world that she ended up the way that she did. Two or three yards away from them was the large mound of crumbling rock where she and the other girls stood upon when it was still a cliff. "That star…" Sumei's eyes followed where Suki's finger pointed in the sky, "I was looking at that star when we were on that cliff."

"Status re-_port_!?" Suki winced when Sumei wound the tight bandage around her side again. Sai and Myn had moved the campsite to the base of the rubble for their leader to use as a makeshift headquarters/medical tent. "Well?"

"Uh…oh yeah!" Sai stuttered

_Sigh…_ "Kikyo and Akemi were able to find the refugees and brought them here." Myn informed the others. "We set up the rest of the tents for their use to treat their wounded. Nothing serious; mainly bruises and scared kids…but they're not from Omashu…" Suki's face lowered in thought, as though she was planning something.

"No matter…" after a few seconds passed, "They're still refugees, and its no mere coincidence that the cliff fell near them. Myn and Sai stood in shock, surprised at what their leader was telling them.

"It was a trap…" Sumei told the two and tossed a used stick of dynamite towards them. "There were several of them planted at the base of the cliff, but I have no idea if they were timed or set off manually." With this new information fresh in their heads, the four girls exited the tent to meet the refugees. There were a lot more than she had counted, but Suki made sure that all of them were to be treated as soon as possible.

A large grey haired man made his way through the crowd, parting them with much courtesy. "Excuse me…are you the commander your unit?" His deep voice secretly intimidated Suki and simply nodded her head in response. "My name is Tyro, and this is my son, Haru." A younger boy, around the same height and age of Sokka rose to his feet from treating a little girl's injury. "I would like to thank you very much for your hospitality today. Please, would you join us for dinner?"

Despite the attack on them, the refugees were loud and happy as they ate. The six girls were invited to eat with Haru and Tyro, as well as the leader of the refugees, an smaller and older man named Chiyo. His caterpillar eyebrows may have looked ridiculous, but his wrinkles told of the wisdom hidden under his small aged eyes. Tyro explained to the girls that he and his son weren't part of the refugees, but on their way to link up with an Earthbending army stationed in the northern Earth Kingdom.

"I am very happy to have finally gained the chance to meet with the legendary Kyoshi warriors." The old refugee leader exhaled in relief. "It is a great honor that you bestow on my old bones." He laughed as he said this, slapping Akemi's back causing her to slightly choke on her food. "As a youth, I grew up in the Town of Chin before my family moved west. Don't know why, but they did…Seeing as how our respective towns haven't been the greatest neighbors, I fear that most of what I know about your island could just be propaganda. So...Is it true that you Kyoshi's were the personal guard of the Avatar? Why did the Avatar kill Chin the Great? Do you think I'm asking the wrong questions?"

"Uh…" Suki was taken back by the old man's energy. She tried to stutter out an answer to his question, but he continued asking and she became confused on which question to answer next.

"So…you're an earthbender?" Kikyo asked Haru after suavely sitting next to him in front of the fire.

"Oh…yes." Haru answered absentmindedly.

"Why is it that the other girls are wearing makeup and not you? Is because you're the leader?" The old chieftain continued his volley of questions.

"Calm down Chiyo, I believe that you're confusing young Suki here." Tyro interjected with a hearty laugh. "He is just nervous about today's most recent attack."

"So, you've been attacked before, then?" Suki was happy to ask rather than answer.

"Yes. That's part of the reason why Haru and I are traveling with these refugees. They passed through our village, asking for an escort to Ba Sing Se. Since a group of us had been called to the northern front, we gladly volunteered to escort them." Tyro paused to take a sip of his drink and to catch his breath. "It had been a straightforward journey so far, and a detour to Ba Sing Se would cause a lot of missed time, so I told the others to head straight to the northern army ahead of us. It was not until two nights ago that we were attacked by a Fire Nation Cavalry." He presented a note with the clear markings of the Fire Nation wrapped around an arrow to Suki, who took to reading it.

"_I am Mongke, Colonel in charge of the Rough Rhinos._

_In the name of the Fire Nation, I demand your surrender or else we will attack."_

"Luckily, that arrow was their only attack; aimed directly at Chiyo." Tyro said softly.

"It's thanks to my friend's abilities that I'm still here…Although remarkably, the arrow managed to pierce the rock and hit me squarely in the leg." The old man pulled up his left pant leg to reveal a finely decorated wooden amputation. "This is the mark here, and it hit perfectly. Like as if that was the target all along." The girls leaned in for a closer inspection of the strike mark, which was a perfectly shaped conical point in the wood. "If you wanted a closer look, all you have to do is ask!" Chiyo said with a smile and popped his fake leg off. The girls screamed in horror while Tyro and several other refugees laughed.

The next day started with much fervor and the girls were filled with excitement. As they did their morning exercises, they did so in front of a live and large audience, who watched with intent as they practiced their movements, 'oo-ing' and 'aww-ing' at the girl's acrobatics. The rest of the day was spent traveling to the Earth Kingdom capital city with the warriors providing escort. Because of the Kiyoshis' arrival, Haru and Tyro hesitantly went north to the Earth Kingdom's army at the behest of old Chiyo. The warriors walked along their Ostrich-horses, providing the injured and elderly—excluding old man Chiyo—ease of transport.

_Squaw…_

The large birds started to flutter a bit, a sign of danger near. "Girls, get into formation." The girls in green fell suit, taking the elderly and young off the squeamish birds The Kyoshi warriors moved into a circle around the large group of refugees and started to lead them to high ground. With shield in hand, each of the girls looked around for the cause of their Ostrich-horse's fear…

"INCOMING!" A flaming arrow flew towards them. Fast. Sumei angled her shield down just as the projectile pinged and ricochet off to the distance.

"We've got more!" Six more flaming arrows flew towards the group; all aimed at each of the Kyoshi warriors. All raising their shields to protect themselves, they looked on astonished to see three unlit arrows fly towards the refugees. A pillar of rock rose from the ground, impeding all of the arrow's trajectories to a halt.

"Watch out!" Haru ran out from the crowd, tossing away his cloak to the wind. He stomped his foot again, raising a second pillar to halt more arrows.

"Haru?! I thought you've left already! Where's your father then?" Chiyo exclaimed at the young earthbender in front of him.

"I'm sorry that we had to deceive you. My father's waiting in a village a day from here, and I plan to rejoin him once your pursuers are dealt with."

"Good!" A gruff voice called atop a komodo rhino. "That way, you'll stop running and finally taken prisoner! Rough Rhinos: Round them up!" Four other men arrived atop komodo rhinos, effectively surrounding the large mass of people. Each of them wielded a different weapon: a bowman, staff wielder, ball and chain, and a heavily armored soldier. Mongke himself seemed to be unarmed, but clashed his black and red metal gauntlets for intimidation.

"Ready Haru?" Kikyo asked the young Earthbender, giving a head nod in return. The five rhinos circled the group, and Haru waited until the bowman moved in front of him. Striking the ground with his foot, the boy managed to catch the tattooed archer off guard, forcing him to move defensively and attack Haru instead of the refugees. The flaming arrow was countered by a flying rock, and his rhino was almost knocked off balance by the moving earth. As he drew in another arrow, Sumei rode from behind him and sliced the drawstring, effectively leaving the Yu-Yan unarmed.

Reacting to the Earthbender, the staff wielder rode towards the refugees in an effort to trample the Kyoshi warriors. Myn rode at top speed against the man in a daring game of pig-chicken. Having nothing to fear, the rhino rider increased his speed with a smile on his face. To his dismay however, the young girl had the Ostrich-horse jump, using its large claw to grab and pull the Fire-Nation soldier off his saddle. The rhino continued on its warpath, scaring the refugees to jump out of its way for safety.

A balled chain flew through the air towards Akemi and her large bird, causing her to jump back out of the weapon's range. Not discouraged in the least, the man charged head on with his weapon twirling about. He swung again, catching Akemi's shield and knocking her off the Ostrich-horse and she rolled to disperse the force of her fall. She rolled back onto her feet to see the man charge towards her at full speed. Drawing her sword, Akemi tossed it like a javelin inbetween one of the chain links to disrupt the spinning of her opponent's weapon. Observing his distraction, Akemi pole-vaulted using the rhino's horns and with a large pang of the metal, struck the man in the face.

Only Colonel Mongke and the armored soldier were left, who were currently pursuing Suki and Sai. In a seamless transition from tireless training, the girls crossed by each other, swerving in a near miss, to change their direction towards the Fire Nation soldiers. The Kyoshi girls continued their swerving, keeping their speed and movement eerily in synch to the other. As the young girls rode towards them, the Armored soldier finally revealed his weapons; two satchel bags of four sticks of dynamite wrapped together that flew towards their target. Mongke sent two balls of fire towards the satchel bags, igniting into large balls of fire and forcing the girls to peel away from their course. Rounding back for a second try, the girls warily rode against the two Fire Nation soldiers, fully aware of what they were up against now.

The two armored men rode off in different directions, forcing Suki and Sai to split as well. Veering away from each other, Suki took off after the armored man, while Sai pursued the Colonel. "What are you trying to do, be a hero?" Kikyo rode along Suki. Sumei followed closely as they chased after the armored man. They swerved to and fro in order to dodge the explosives that the man lobbed behind him, now riding straight for the refugees.

Sai tried her best to keep a safe distance behind the Colonel, who constantly lobbed fire balls at his pursuer. The rhino suddenly stopped, and Mongke now sent long streams of fire at her. Sai panicked, and had her Ostrich-horse dive onto the ground for safety. Rolling to a stop, Sai looked on with fear at the amber-eyed firebender before a rock wall sprouted between them. Haru rode in on a komodo rhino, using reigns created from earthbent stone. The wall returned to the ground as Myn and Akemi jumped off their Ostrich-horses to tend to their friend. "Don't worry, I'll handle him. Help the refugees get to safety!" Haru commanded, and chased after the Colonel.

Kikyo and Sumei finally managed to catch up with the armored soldier, riding on either side of him. The man looked to his left to see a smiling Kikyo and to his right to see a straight faced Sumei, but no sign of the third girl. Taking his hands off the reigns, he light two explosive sticks and threw them towards his sides. He sped up when the girls jumped away from the explosions and lit another stick as he approached the screaming refugees. Tossing the explosive with all his might, time stood still as the stick flew towards the center of the crowd. "Well…nice knowing all of you…" Chiyo said depressed. Suddenly a shadow cast over him, and looking up, saw an Ostrich-horse jump over him. The large foot hit the back of his head as it flew past, knocking him face first into the ground.

Suki knew that timing was everything. She brought her feet to stand on top of the saddle and jumped into the air towards the explosive. With war fans open, she flew past the stick and fell down towards the ground, kicking the soldier's helmet and tossing him off his rhino. Everyone held their breath when the dynamite fell onto the ground in the middle of the crowd. Looking up from where he laid, old man Chiyo let out a sigh of relief when he thought he saw a dummy explosive. The still lit separated fuse landed right next to the stick, jolting him to kick them away from each other in horror. Turning her position on the saddle, Suki took control of the komodo rhino and rode to help Haru.

The Colonel laughed madly at his opponent's feeble attempts to attack him with earthbending. "You should stop worrying about me, and worry about how you're going to clean up the mess!" Mongke sent a ball of fire at Haru who easily dodged it. Looking back, Haru saw the armored man prepare his attack from a distance, and how Suki knocked him to the ground as well. "What? NO!" Mongke ignored the earthbender and rode towards the crowd growling angrily. Haru took chase and was happy to see Suki ride towards them as well. Mongke simply lobbed a stream of fire towards the Kyoshi warrior and watched her jump off her rhino to avoid the attack. She in turn tried a flying kick to which the firebender avoided by leaning to the right side of his saddle.

Suki rolled when she landed on the ground and reached for Haru's outstretched hand to share his saddle. "Hurry up! I saw that he had another explosive in his hand!" She screamed out to the earthbender in front of her.

"Don't worry about it…look!" Haru called back to his passenger with a smile. He pointed straight ahead at a large wall that had been erected which was part of a rock prison where the other Fire Nation soldiers were being kept. Suki saw that the Colonel swerved out of the way to avoid it, remembering that he had only one explosive to use. With a look of angered frenzy, Mongke lit his stick of dynamite and looked ahead of him in wide eyed horror as his rhino suddenly crashed into a wooden cart, tossing him out of the saddle and into the air.

"MY CABBAGES!!"

"Sorry!" Kikyo strode up on her Ostrich-horse with a cute smile. She had the large bird stomp on the explosive fuse, effectively snuffing out the flame. "We'll make it up to you…I promise!"

With the pursuers finally dealt with, Haru left (for real this time) to meet with his father to the loud and rambunctious cheers of the refugees. With the Kyoshi warriors as their escort, the large mass of people continued their way to freedom in Ba Sing Se. Just as the sun had begun to set, the refugees and their escort had reached a secret ferry way—the only safe path to the grand Earth Kingdom capital. After being cleared to enter, the refugees happily took the chance to rest for the first time that day. Surrounded by hundreds of other refugees, the Kyoshi warriors watched with astonishment the large ferry ships that came to and left port.

"Yeah…that's definitely bigger." Sai said softly. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"C'mon, this way!" Suki called out to the girls and they walked into line to see if they could help.

"NEXT! Welcome to Full Moon Bay..." A grouchy—yet somehow still female—voice commanded from atop her high seat. Suki stepped up to ask for employment when the woman demanded passports.

"Oh no, you're mistaken." Suki told the bureaucrat. "We don't have passports...my friends and I are soldiers from Kyoshi, and we'd like to know if you need-"

"No passports? Get out of line—NEXT!"

"What? No…I said-"

"I _said_ 'get out of line'. Don't make me call security!" The woman barked down.

"Hey lady," Kikyo shouted towards the bureaucrat, "We _are_ security!" The woman squinted towards the warriors silently.

"Really? Well, you're out of uniform. You can pick up new ones at the north gate." The bureaucrat stamped a few documents. The girls stared at Kikyo for a moment and head off to the north gate to start their new jobs.

"And take off that makeup! It makes you all look like clowns!"

* * *

So...I'm not sure if I should continue...yeah... 

I guess my review contest counts for this too, you're just going to have to review for Chapter 2 to count.


	3. Chapter 3

Ping: We're not going to bother you with the small legal details...

Chin: So just have a fun read, kay?

* * *

In a small dormitory on the east side of a secret cave, a young girl was sleeping in a mess of sheets. The thick curtains on the right side of the dormitory room glowed brightly, but managed to keep the sun's rays out and the dark room dark.This was of course, to the benefit of the exhausted girl, who tossed over to her left to bereave herself from consciousness. The darkness of the room had also benefited others - three in fact - who were tiptoeing through the clothing covered floor with stifled giggles. 

"_Shh! Akemi…stop that or she'll wake up!"_ The middle figure nodded in understanding and made a zipper motion over her lips.The shadowy figure sighed and continued tiptoeing towards the bed again with Akemi right behind. The third figure slouched after them, obviously not caring to tiptoe like the other two.

"_Kikyo…"_ the third started to protest, _"Why do I have to be the one in this getup?"_ The shadowy figure loudly whispered to the girls in front of her. Thanks to the darkness, the outfit that she wore was very hard to see. It was made up of several patches of blue to form a shirt, and the wearer's hair was tied tight atop her head. All the excess hair was tucked into the back collar, and in the dark, made the look of a crude Mohawk.

_"Because Myn,"_ Kikyo began to answer, _"You're the one who lost at Pai Sho."_

"What? I've never played Pai Sho until no—"

_"Shhh…quiet!"_ Akemi jumped to cover Myn's mouth. All three girls heard their target moan and turn over in the bed from their ruckus. They held their breath and hoped to Kyoshi that she wouldn't wake up before they were ready. As soon as they heard the ruffling of sheets stop, Kikyo gestured her hand for Myn to move further towards the bed.

_"Alright Myn…it's time."_ Kikyo placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders while wearing a somber face. Myn's soft face now held a slight tinge of anxiousness when her friend told her this, and tried to re-hydrate her parched throat with a gulp.

She slowly made her way to the bed, giving into her convictions._ "Myn,"_ The ridiculously dressed Kyoshi warrior, turned in hopes that she could avoid the bet. _"Remember…we didn't put you up to this." _The disguised girl nearly sweat-dropped but nodded instead.

She finally made it to the bed and slowly descended to sit on it. She looked down onto her fearless leader with a smile. Truth to be told, Akemi thought that the sleeping girl was so pretty. Suki was always loved by the rest of the village, and she was naturally talented at being a warrior. And when the Avatar and friends had visited their island, she managed to grab the Water Tribe boy's affections with ease. Myn wasn't jealous of course, but she just wished that she at least had similar traits to Suki's. _Maybe at least her hair…_ she thought, as Myn reached out to brush the short bangs away from her fearless leader's face.

* * *

**_"Suki…hey there…"_** Suki moaned when she heard the voice call her name. She turned over to face the window shades again. 

_"Sokka…"_ Her left arm felt numb from putting all of her weight on it. In fact, her dead weight of an arm made her feel awkward and was close enough to wake her up. Using all of her sleepy strength, Suki forcefully flung her arm towards her right, but hit something above her. Her eyes snapped open and with practiced precision grabbed a concealed knife from under her pillow to drive towards the stranger.

Myn shrieked in terror and barely managed to grab the hostile bed maiden's arm.

"Suki! It's me!" she squeaked out awkwardly. The brunette's jabbing motions halted and her arm relaxed when she heard the squeaky plea. Suki made her tired and heavy eyes squint at the dark figure in front of her. With a thought process that only a half-conscious person would have, the fearless leader gave a goofy smile and wrapped her arms around Myn.

"Sokka!" Suki squealed in joy as she tightly hugged the blue garbed figure. "What are you doing here?" She gave a slight yawn as questioned 'Sokka', squeezing her tear ducts and blurring her vision even more. "No matter…I…owe you something…" Suki rubbed her eyes, but kept them closed as she brought her face closer to Myn's. The distance between them shrank with every passing second, and a terrified Myn was frozen in panic. She still held Suki's wrist that was armed with a knife with her left, and her right was busy trying to wrestle Suki from pulling her head closer for the kill.

Akemi and Kikyo couldn't stifle their laughs any more, and both let loose cackles that would put a curly-tailed blue-nosed monkey to shame. The girls held onto their painful sides while Kikyo drew back the curtains and let in the bright Sun into the room. Confused by the noise, and sudden amount of light, Suki opened her eyes to not see Sokka, but Myn. Embarrassed beyond repair, Suki pushed the girl away from her and snapped her head to the raucous girls. She grinded her teeth and gripped the dagger even tighter as she jumped towards the mocking Kyoshi warriors.

* * *

_"Can't take a joke…lousy Suki..."_ Kikyo grumbled softly. Her legs were tired from standing and her mind even more so for standing in the same spot for so long. As punishment for the morning's events, all three girls were sent to do the 'lower' guarding duties for the day. 

Myn was sent to do uniform inventory, Akemi was hauling papers around for the bureaucrats, and Kikyo was on…Platypus-bear duty. For the most part, she would just stand around with a leash in hand until some unwitting refugee infringed the rules enough for the bear to be called in.

Closing her eyes for just a second, Kikyo was nearly pulled off the floor when the crabby head bureaucrat called for security. Now shocked awake, the girl grabbed onto the leash with both hands and moved back slightly to keep her grip and balance. The Platypus-bear stood on both feet and crashed down onto the cart in front of it, chomping on the illegal produce.

"MY…CABBAGES!!!"

_Poor guy…and we just got him those too…_Two other security guards walked up to the kneeling vendor who was still reeling from anguish, and took him away from the line. Kikyo sighed as she readjusted her crazy security hat and patted the large furry beast._ It's stupid how they make even the animals wear this dingy costume_. She laughed as the brown animal chomped on a head of lettuce and glanced towards the angry lady. As she was about to leave for another part of the port, a very shiny thing shone in her eye. Kikyo gave a second look to see a small girl and…

"Where's Suki!" Kikyo panted out when she finally found one of the other Kyoshi girls. She had looked everywhere, but at last she found Sumei at one of the guard towers now. "I have to find her! It's urgent!"

"Kikyo, what are you doing away from your post?!" Suki demanded of the probated warrior girl. "And who's handling the security bear?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Sai owed me a favor…anyways; you have to come with me!" Kikyo speedily said and grabbed onto Suki's sleeve. The excited girl lost her balance on the rung and fell, pulling Suki down with her. "Look…over…there…" she wheezed out and pointed to the Ga-Aang, who were now leaving the bureaucrat's booth with tickets in hand. Now that Suki had jumped off of her, Kikyo was able to take a full breath of air and rubbed the back of her sore head with a smile.

"You know that this doesn't get you out of Platypus-bear duty, right?" Sumei casually asked the grounded Kikyo.

"Oh, I know…but Suki's going to owe me a LOT for this one…" Kikyo giggled from her spot. The two glanced over to Suki and saw her kiss Sokka on the cheek. "I told you." She said with a grin.

* * *

With Suki gone to escort the Avatar and friends to Ba Sing Se, Sumei found herself in the awkward position of leading the Kyoshi girls. It would have been so much easier if she only had to be the leader during a battle, but it was murder to be a security captain. Not only did she have to lead in the morning drills, but she had to deal with the bureaucracy directly, schedule the Kyoshi girl's posts, and deal with the nervous wrecks that were refugees. How did Suki make it look so easy? 

"Sumei, you have to come quick. We have a problem with some refugees!"

_Another problem?_ It was far too often that the refugees would be troublesome. Of course, considering that they were in fact, refugees, tensions were very high and fights broke out so much that one fight would be considered a 'slow day'. Sumei personally realized this, and knew that fights were inevitable, but she was irritated with the frequency of their occurrence. Following the guard, the Kyoshi leader-elect saw a large crowd gather around in a circle. It wasn't long though, that she felt the ground rumble ferociously, and several men were hurled into the air like dolls.

With some effort, Sumei and two husky security men moved their way through the crowd of people to arrive in the center. "Alright, break this up. Let the guy go…you're holding up the line." One of the husky guards commanded. The man he was talking to was indeed holding someone up with his right hand around his ankles. The suspect in question was a large man, about as large as the guards, but not as bulky. He was more toned, and had a naturally aggressive aura flow around him. His long black hair swayed around when he faced the trio with a serious face.

"Now Xin Fu, I believe that you did overreact a _little_ bit."

Sumei hadn't noticed it before, but there was a smaller and older man standing just behind the aggressor. The tall one seemed to know the other, and released the ankle without a change to his serious face. He only growled out something inaudible, and then, "…Yu…" The refugee yelped when he fell, and scrambled into the crowd to escape his former captor.

"Allow me to extend my sincerest apologies. My friend here was merely…'defending' himself." The older man brushed his thin mustache and beard with his left hand and bowed slightly. He even gave off a surprisingly disarming grin to everyone, and he and the larger man returned to the line as if nothing happened.

"Uh, ok…fewer problems for us then..." Sumei shrugged off the incident and turned around to bump into "Suki! What are you doing back here already?"

"We managed to make it through the Serpent's pass 'safely', so I wished the Avatar and his friends well and made it back in half the time." Suki explained, "And what are these 'problems' that I'm hearing about?" Sumei could only smile awkwardly as her response to her leader. _I hope I'm not in trouble…_

* * *

"Hey Suki! How was Sokka?" Kikyo giggled wearing a wide grin. With Suki's return from her escorting mission, the other Kyoshi girls made sure to welcome their fearless leader back. 

When asked by the devilish Kikyo, Suki could only blush and began to stutter an answer. "Ha! I knew it…" They were all sitting around their leader's room, some on the bed and the rest on the floor nearby.

_If only I was still wearing my makeup…_ Suki condemned herself for letting the girls see her this way. The others couldn't have been happier for their leader, and everyone sans Suki began 'oooing' and 'aaah-ing'. Tired of the teasing, Suki quickly grabbed a pillow and struck the closest girl to her. A girlish fight broke out, and the screaming and laughing could be heard by the refugees a mile away.

It was morning now, and the room was populated by the Kyoshi girls. Spread out over the floor and the bed, the girls slept soundly, knowing that their contract with the crabby bureaucrat lady was close to expiring. In the darkness, a lone figure tiptoed into the room and weaved around the sleeping forms on the floor. Careful not to wake up any of them, the figure jumped over two overlapped forms towards the shaded window, and opened them in a swift motion. The bright sun intruded into the room and the girls erupted in argumentative and angry groans of disapproval.

"Morning _ladies_…" Suki happily greeted the tired warriors, "It's time we made our way back to Kyoshi Island!" The five girls weakly opened their eyes to see their leader holding up a parchment with Oyaji's large signature at the bottom.

"Later!" Kikyo moaned and threw a pillow at Suki.

Once they had gone through their morning exercises and security duties, the Kyoshi warriors were officially dismissed from Full Moon Bay and paid for their time served. After saying their goodbyes to the other security—and Kikyo said goodbye to Ling-Ling the Platypus-bear—the warriors made their leave to visit their home island. Around mid-day, they decided to detour into a forest for supplies such as wood and food.

While searching around the bushes for berries and such, Kikyo found something white hanging off the bush nearest her. "Must have been some fight". She noticed several other clumps of the white fur to her left; huge drag marks and broken branches and trees cleared away much of the forest.

When she heard Kikyo, Suki couldn't believe her eyes. "Wait. Let me see that." Taking the clump of fur from her friend's hand, she realized that the white mass couldn't be anything else. The marks of struggle in front of her only reinforced that fact. "No…it couldn't be…"

"What is it, Suki?" Kikyo asked her friend.

"Wait here." Suki dropped what was in her hand onto the ground and followed the trail of fur and broken trees. It would be unbelievable if what she expected was true. Searching around the unnaturally made trail, Suki found herself at a dead end.

Needing to find higher ground, she had to climb up a small cliff to try to find the trail again. At first, all she saw was an old stone archway built under a tree where it was said that the first guerrillas of the war hid. Something blocked the entranceway, but it didn't look like rocks or wood at all. It was dirty and muddy and…breathing.

"Appa? Oh no…" The large beast awoke with a scare, and growled loudly as he hid deeper into the archway. The look of fear in Appa's eyes told so much more than the sixteen or so needles sticking out of his mangy white hide.

Suki tried to approach the Avatar's animal guide with care to see more of his hidden form, and received only more scared growls. The chains on his feet clanged around as it moved back into the darkness and fidgeted around. Knowing full well that she would need some help, Suki laid down an apple and some berries to show Appa that she was friendly.

"It's going to be ok, Appa" she said as calmly as possible. "I have to leave, but I'm going to back soon with help." Suki backed away slowly and made her way back to the others as soon as possible. After descending the cliff, she ran quickly to the other Kyoshi girls who were now huddled around waiting for her.

"What happened, Suki?" Myn was first to ask her leader. Suki explained the situation, and sure enough all of them volunteered to help as much as they could. They made their way back to the small cliff where Suki paused just before climbing over.

"No sudden movements. He's been lost for a while and it looks like he's hurt." Suki began to tell the other girls. "He's shy around people and scared. Stay low, and stay quiet."

"I can't believe you found the Avatar's bison." Sai said in disbelief. "Didn't you just see the Avatar a few days ago?"

"Yes." Suki answered, "So he can't be too far from here. It's our responsibility that we get Appa back to him safely." She started to re-ascend the cliff with Kikyo and Sai right next to her. "This could be our most important mission yet."

Hearing several footsteps approaching, Appa woke up to see more strangers heading towards him. He stood up and growled defensively, causing Suki tell the others to give him some space. Following Suki's command, the girls slowly backed away a few feet from where Suki stood. "Appa, it's me, Suki. I'm a friend." The large bison seemed to understand what she said, or it was possibly the calm tone of voice that she used for it to grunt softer now.

Their leader continued soothing Appa with her peaceful tone and she eventually made it close enough to touch it.

"She really is fearless…" Akemi told the others. She was simply amazed at how calmly Suki could approach such a scary beast, no matter how cautious she was being. Seeing that the bison was now calm, the others slowly approached him as well. Each one of them managed to give the Avatar's animal a soft pat, and they received a grunt of affection in return.

Akemi managed to pick the locks of the leg shackles, and Appa hurriedly rushed out to try running again. After what seemed to be hours of cleaning and brushing, the animal guide was as happy and clean as ever. Sai happened to be closest to the large beast to receive an affectionate lick from Appa's large tongue.

The ruffling of leaves alerted the happy bison to move as well as the girls. Just barely avoiding a large blue blast, the warrior girls moved into a defensive position around Appa in case they were attacked again. Appa gave off a monstrous roar in the direction of three girls riding mongoose dragons. They reigned to a halt just in front of them, proudly displaying their red clothing.

"My, my, you're easy to find." The middle girl snobbishly proclaimed. She was obviously the leader of the three, being the only one in Fire Nation armor and wearing a flame hair-piece. She was inspecting a small clump of white fur before tossing it aside as snobbishly as she spoke. "It's really astounding my brother hasn't captured you yet." The girls had since moved in front of their furry friend, defending him from the three Fire Nation girls. They all unsheathed their War fans and unlocked their shields before Suki asked what they wanted.

"Who are you, the Avatar's 'fangirls'?" the leader mockingly asked them. The least-clothed girl on her left gave a moment of thought before astoundingly saying,

"Oh…I get it. Good one Azula."

_Azula_…Suki thought to herself. _She's the one that's been chasing after Aang_… "If you're looking for the Avatar, you're out of luck."

"I knew this was a waste of time…" The dark clothed girl complained and sighed loudly.

"No Avatar, huh?" Azula started with a shrug, "Well that's ok, any friend of the Avatar…" The red armored girl jumped off her saddle and attacked with a large stream of blue fire. "…Is an enemy of mine!"

Unlike the Rough Rhinos, these three girls were sure to be experts at what they did. The Kyoshi warriors joined their shields to disrupt the blue stream and were quickly engaged by the other two when they disjoined.

With war fans displayed, Sai and Akemi found themselves fighting against the dark clothed whiny girl. Sai was caught off guard when she was pinned to a tree by the girl's concealed throwing knives and looked on in shock. "You're so colorful, it's making me nauseous!" The whiny girl shot more concealed projectiles in Akemi's direction. Unsheathing her katana, she easily deflected the shot and made her counterattack towards the pink-clothed girl. Slicing only air, Akemi was rained down upon by a string of punches to her backside.

"You're _not_ prettier than we are…"

Suki found herself defending Appa against Azula herself, as her friends fought the other two girls. Using her shield, she tried to block attack after devastating attack of the Fire Nation girl's ferocious blue flames. She managed to block a third heavy shot, deflecting it onto a fallen tree setting it on fire. Appa gave off growls of fear from seeing the orange flames and stood in place, terrified.

"Afraid of fire are we? That's good. You should be."

Suki drew out her katana and tried to shoo Appa away. Understanding, the bison took off and Suki was finally able to make her attack. Driving her sword towards the enemy, Suki stayed calm when Azula jumped over the stab and knocked away the sword with a spinning backfist. Another blue flame was shot out and Suki was knocked to the ground from a trip.

Sumei saw her friend fall and to buy her time, shot her war fans at the armored girl and ran away to draw her out. She was being chased by Azula until the dark clothed girl appeared in front and pinned her to the tree next to Sai. "Hey Sumei. We winning?"

"I don't think so…"

Appa returned from the sky to help the downed Kyoshi warrior, but Suki could not let it happen. Regretfully, she grabbed a branch and lit it to make a torch to scare off the bison. "Get out of here! You have to find Aang!" She swung the torch to and fro to make her point. "We'll be ok!"

Giving in to his fears, the white bison flew off in rejection, to Suki's short lived relief. Another shot of blue fire connected with her shield and Suki was nearly toppled over from the force of the blast.

She drew out her War fan only to be mocked by the Fire Nation girl again. Tired of Azula's snobbish personality, Suki barely dodged another shot of flame and charged her enemy. Strike after strike was merely pushed away by the amber eyed girl, and shot after shot of blue flame were beginning to take their toll on Suki.

The whistling of arrows drew her attention to her right and she blocked them all with her yellow shield while keeping an eye on Azula.

_I was sure that there were three of the…_

But it was too late. Several punches connected from behind her and Suki lost all feeling in her arms, legs and body. The Kyoshi warrior wobbled along and strained to keep on her feet. Her arms were numb, but she could still use them.

Remembering when her arm was numb before, Suki attempted to forcefully fling her right that had held her War fan…to find that she had dropped it a while ago. Azula walked up to the panting Suki and grinned. She grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her along the ground to be tossed next to her friends.

"Say, Ty Lee?" Azula addressed the pink clothed girl.

"Yeah Azula?"

"What's the security like in Ba Sing Se?"

"What do you ever mean, Azula?"

"Don't try that Ty Lee." The dark clothed girl told her, "We know that you managed to sneak in before. Just answer her so we can leave." The pink clothed girl was shocked that they knew and didn't know what to say.

"Oh, we're not mad Ty Lee." Azula casually ignored the prisoners to calmly coerce the answer, "You see, Mai and I have been talking, and we've decided that we should try new things, and be open minded to other points of view."

Azula smiled an evil smile while bending down towards Suki and took off her head band. She investigated the shiny gold and green bauble for a few seconds before donning it herself. "We want to try to keep a low profile too."

* * *

Typewriterman: After days of grammar checking and head banging, I'm happy to report that my new Beta reader miraculously survived the Beta...reading...process... 

Chin: Yeah...that sucked...

Typewriterman: Anywho, I really want to thank Jesus for helping me with this! I'm telling you guys, 'Jesus.Lives'!

Ping: That sucked even more!

Typewriterman: Wow...even my own subconcious can't stand my jokes...


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